Changing beliefs about knives

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In the very beginning, I didnt want to sharpen my new Mercer chef knive cause i might mess it up.

Also, japanese knives can't really be that much better than my really nice wusthoff santoku. I mean how much better can they really be??
 
I used to hope Mazaki knives would just become more and more like Katos, until he basically just made Katos, so i could get them at a decent price.
 
Changing beliefs:
2006--a Deba would be a great all-arounder because it was heavy
2007--I could accentuate the lamination line by raising and lowering my sharpening angle (hey--it kinda makes sense if you think about it...)
2008--200 bucks for a Carter was too much
2009--200 bucks for a shig is too much
2010-2011 (but sometimes still)--a 210mm is the ideal length for a gyuto
2012--Masakage Mizu Yuki would solve everything because it was ss-clad but carbon and wa-handle
2013-2015--If it's not white or blue, then it's too fancy for me
2016--no need to try a Western maker
2017--no need to try a honyaki
2018--I should finally join the forum I've been lurking on (and KF before it) for a decade...
2019--that significant flat spot and low tip solves everything
2020--that KKF is really just ~50 people and most of the other accounts belong to one person as part of a sociological experiment. Oh, well, 2020 isn't over yet...
 
  • I was told as an apprentice that a full bolster and rivets are a sign of a quality knife
I like this 😁 in particular the rivets part.
’When you’re out doing the occasional knife shopping, make sure to inspect the knife! Does it have rivets? Very important! If it does, go ahead inspecting the bolster! Is it full? If yes, just buy and enjoy!’
 
I like this 😁 in particular the rivets part.
’When you’re out doing the occasional knife shopping, make sure to inspect the knife! Does it have rivets? Very important! If it does, go ahead inspecting the bolster! Is it full? If yes, just buy and enjoy!’
Are 2 or 3 rivets preferred? Should the bolster be slightly or extremely past the edge?
 
I once believed that I had touched a knife made by someone other than Naoki Mazaki, turned out I was wrong. Thought this guy that i watched firsthand making a knife in Milwaukee was a local but then his rubber Mission Impossible style mask slipped off and it was Mazaki all along. Also my old Sheffield knife but then I found this picture of workers in the Latham and Owen factory c. 1925 ... yep, Mazaki.

more seriously - the usual evolution of knife misconceptions and assumptions and discoveries, about steel, brands, smiths, etc. Lately I’m finding myself picking up and using more single bevels. I assumed that since I didn’t do much work with fish, and no sushi or sashimi, I’d be best off with an usuba. Turns out I barely ever used it, used the single bevel petty on occasion but more to make myself use a single bevel rather than because it was the best tool for the job, but once I started butchering with them I’m using several yanagi and a mioroshi deba almost daily on beef and pork As well as breaking down salmon.
 
America’s test kitchen knife review is all that I need for a knife”— it ain’t.

I should listen to people’s suggestions and recommendations on forums ” - lots of people like to recommend knives AND *barely ... Barellyy* using theirs, AND have *zero* cutting skills, AND *zero* sharpening skills—i don’t listen to people with out a vid somewhere, or have significant experience working on high end blades. Most people are glorified America’s test kitchen testers. I’m so sick of the lack of blade proficiency among knife enthusiasts. It’s like reviewing Sports cars by only going on the highway, get your game up. As a Side note ... I have vids of me shaving my face with gyuto’s on YouTube. Not that it matters, but it’s to show my comfort with knives. And to show my own sharping ability Ever so slightly. I also did one with an R2 blade showing how sharp “stainless” can get, because ppl talked about how only carbon can get Super sharp at one point


..... who the hell are you recommending me a Kato for Honyaki for 1k+ and yours doesn’t even have a patina, and you only cut some cucumbers....poorly.

I need a gyuto, paring knife, bread knife” - nope, I peel kiwi, shred carrots, pit apples, peel potatoes, cut crusty bread ... you name it .... with a 240mm Gyuto and I do it efficiently ... it’s called developing skill. Only thing that is faster is a peeler. — my kitchen supply list is 1. A Gyuto and 2. a peeler (MAYBEEE a bread knife) *done*

“carter said his his vid blue < white steel” — after owning several of both I knew even he was a chump. Ate his words years later.

“Honing rod / steeling hard steels is *bad* ... soft steels only”
A) I do what I want ... and know what I’m doing. It’s a piece of steel that I want an edge on, not the holy bible that I’m mutilating. -might put up a vid of me steeling a blue 1 honyaki Gyuto or a ZDP blade ... watch ppl flip out lol.
B) I saw sushi chefs in japan take their yanagibas to the back of a tea cup for an edge, your gunna say that’s wrong to? They live food preparation ... your a knife enthusiast/ retailer/ forum member.
 
I'm sorry for all the truth in your words but... at this point this is no changing belief, it's plain shooting down pretty much anyone that isn't you or your conception of an authority figure in your life. All valid TBH but why the anger? You should be Zen by now.
 
I discovered for myself that a knife doesn't cut. Not any one of them. So far at least. Perhaps a 2000$ one will but I doubt it.

Seriously I've put cameras in my kitchen for weeks. These things just stay put and don't make a move. Certainly they don't cut anything. They're lazy overspent suckers.

No... I need to take them and cut with them. I need to maintain them. I need to get them fit and sharp. I need to understand their needs, but also to put my foot to the ground and reiterate the rules of the house. I don't say if they would take the stuff out, cut it and throw in a good Bolognese, but as far as they don't, by my rules stand my house, my knives, my skills and any aspect of my life I have control upon.

If anyone is in doubt that I or a whole lot of others around here actually use these things, well they can lick the patina out of my double bevels.

I do hope, and am sad having to specify, that y'all see the humor of this post and keep forward with saying interesting bits rather than turning this thread into yet another vendetta against things that but only exist in your deepest dissatisfactions with life.

Does someone actually understand that this is no tribune to ***** about one another when we all love the same things, and cannot share this kind of passion with anyone else but another aficionado, and whatever his level so far and his views he's entitled to them. If even knives divide people that love knives, I sure don't see any point to this forum.
 
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